Europe: the paradox of landscape change : A case-study based contribution to the understanding of landscape transitions

Active citizenship in green space governance

“…Especially in urban areas, encroachment and ongoing urban sprawl combined with declining maintenance budgets have put pressure on the quantity and quality of many green spaces Kabisch, 2015). In rural areas, where many nature reserves can be found, there are important challenges for biodiversity conservation and nature protection, but also for economic development, the wellbeing of the population and the conservation of cultural landscapes (Ferranti et al, 2014;Kati et al, 2015;Derkzen, 2008;Van der Sluis, 2017;Admiraal et al, 2017).…”

Landscape governance : from analysing challenges to capacitating stakeholders

“…The word landscape itself is derived from the old Germanic word landscipe or landscaef, which implies an anthropocentric view on land as an area, region or territory where people belong to, as scipe or scaef which refers to the act of shaping an area or land (James, 1934;Troll, 1971;Olwig, 1996). More recently, Antrop emphasises the importance of this spatial 'integratedness' because of the continuous interaction between spatial structure and functioning, including aspects of the biophysical, anthropogenic and tangible and intangible values herein (Antrop, 2000;Naveh, 2000;van der Sluis, 2017). The result of this interaction is a unique geographical space having its own identity and meaning, which is perceived by its inhabitants and expressed in their 'sense of place' (Williams et al, 1998;Davenport et al, 2005;Taylor, 2008).…”

“…Landscape services are specific sets of ecosystem services which are more anthropocentric -that is, those goods and services that are provided by a landscape to satisfy human needs (Termorshuizen et al, 2009). They can be spatially identified, quantified and expressed in monetary or non-monetary terms by using instruments such as valuation and scenario modelling (Opdam et al, 2008;Termorshuizen et al, 2009;De Fries et al, 2010;Opdam et al, 2015;van der Sluis, 2017). Whereas the North American school of landscape ecology is still largely focused on bio-ecological processes (Wu and Hobbs, 2002), European landscape ecology has a stronger focus on the interrelationships between ecology, spatial planning and decision making (Wu and Naveh, 2001;Beunen et al, 2011;Freeman et al, 2015;Schmidt et al, 2019), and is sometimes referred to as 'place governance' (Schmidt et al, 2019).…”

“…My working definition of landscape governance is 'a place-based, multi-level and multi-stakeholder process of negotiation and decision making for sustainable land use, in which it is attempted to balance the production, protection, and consumption needs and aspirations of the actors involved' (cf. Termorshuizen and Opdam, 2009;Reed et al, 2015;van der Sluis, 2017). This definition has two normative dimensions, the first of which is that of sustainable landscapes, in which sustainable is defined as the optimal balance between production, consumption and protection van der Sluis, 2017).…”

“…Termorshuizen and Opdam, 2009;Reed et al, 2015;van der Sluis, 2017). This definition has two normative dimensions, the first of which is that of sustainable landscapes, in which sustainable is defined as the optimal balance between production, consumption and protection van der Sluis, 2017). The second is the achievement of sustainability through a placebased multi-level and multi-stakeholder process leading to legitimate spatial decisions.…”